Ranking of the Smartest Cities in the World
Award-winning smart parking app, EasyPark, have released the 2017 Smart City Index, revealing Copenhagen, Denmark as the smartest city, followed by Singapore, and Swedish city Stockholm. Creating technology which is designed to make people’s lives easier, EasyPark’s ambition is to help build more livable cities for the future. They undertook this study not only to highlight those metropolises which are on the forefront of smart urban growth, but also to learn from those cities which are showing impressive acceleration towards making life smoother for their citizens through digitalization.
To start the study, EasyPark first created a list of 500 carefully selected cities*. They were then analysed for 19 factors aiming to define what makes a city ‘smart’, beginning with digitalization—meaning 4G, high-speed internet and high smartphone penetration. Next, they looked into transport and mobility, which should be knowledge-based with smart parking, traffic sensors and car sharing apps. A smart city should also be sustainable, with a focus on clean energy and environmental protection. Lastly, there should be excellent online access to governmental services and a high level of citizen participation. All of these factors, and more, were then analysed to determine the final index of 100 cities. To round off the study and add a human element, the research team then asked 20,000 technology and urban planning journalists to rate how smart their cities are.
“Big Data has changed the face of the world as we know it, because it allows us to create better solutions to real world problems. Without better solutions, global urbanization would lead to problems such as traffic congestion, housing shortages and pollution—by using Big Data, we can help tackle these important global issues. In our case, we target mobility and help reduce the footprint of driving traffic while creating a much more welcoming experience for drivers.” commented Mauritz Börjeson, CBDO of EasyPark Group. “Every city in this index deserves to be applauded for their efforts, and while the results clearly indicate those cities which are leaps and bounds ahead, it also brings to attention the admirable efforts of many cities looking forward towards a smart future.”
Below you can find a sample of the results for Madrid, Spain, showcasing a selection of factors from the full study. Scores are from 1 - 10 for each factor, with 10 indicating the highest possible score. Ranks are from 1 -100, with rank #1 indicating the smartest city.
To see the full data for all 19 factors, please see the results page here: https://easyparkgroup.com/smart-cities-index/
